SF Weekly

In June 2020, the renowned alt paper reached out to me for a personal essay – just the first piece of mine to be printed in their pages.

(Also available on my official byline page.)

“We Want to Live” (aka “On Being Black in San Francisco“) (June 2020)

After writing for the Examiner, my work caught the attention of the editor for the SF Weekly. When the murder of George Floyd occurred, the editor reached out to me to commission an op-ed about racism in San Francisco, “the most progressive city in America”.

As a Black man having been born and raised here, I had quite a unique perspective to offer. And it wouldn’t be the last time.

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“We Don’t Need No Water” (aka “The Performative Arts” ) (June 2020)

After the murder of George Floyd and the protests that followed, many corporate brands and arts organizations were quick to jump on the “Black Lives Matter” bandwagon.

Unfortunately, most of those organizations have histories just as racist as the actions being protested.

“Language of the Unheard” (August 2020)

As the protests continued, a lot of attention was paid to the property damage caused. Despite the fact that a lot of the violence was done by cops and white supremacists, the images and headlines of destruction have been used to discredit the Black Lives Matter protesters.

When you value broken windows over Black lives, then you are part of the problem.

“Watching the Games in Black and White” (September 2020)

With 2020 full of Black Power protesting, the start of the NFL season supposedly brings a much more “woke” League where taking a knee is par for the course.

Too bad the League athlete who kicked off that movement isn’t even allowed to try for any of the teams.

“We All Saw This Coming” (January 2021)

On the 6th of January, the lame duck sitting president – who refused to accept that he’d lost re-election months prior – stirred up his white supremacist acolytes into storming the US Capitol Building.

This was not a random or unexpected turn, it was the result of nearly 20 years (particularly the four-year tenure of said lame duck) of white American bigotry being empowered to the point that it resulted in an attempted coup.

If you’re anything like me, you saw it coming a long way off.

“Back to Normal isn’t Good Enough (aka We STILL See You, White American Theatre)” (March 2021)

A year after the entertainment world came to terms with its long-held, widespread issues of discrimination, Bay Area theatre needs to be reminded that they’re still under scrutiny.

“March Sadness” (March 2021)

March 2021 didn’t just mark one full year since the start of COVID lockdowns, it also marked the anniversaries of several local and national milestones that nearly flew under the radar. Not only are those milestones important to remember, they also happen to prove how far we have to go as a society confronting racism and class inequality.